Christian gay 'cure' tour sparks calls for ban

Campaigners are calling on the UK government to ban so-called gay ‘cures’ ahead of a homophobic Christian group’s British leg of a world tour.

Global LGBT rights group All Out has launched a petition to stop extremist religious organizations from using therapies which they claim can turn gay people straight.

The activists are urging governments to denounce and investigate the practice currently being promoted by a group called Desert Stream.

The extremist Christian group claims to be able to ‘liberate those bound by sexual and relational brokenness’ and is due to hold a workshop in England on Sunday (12 August).

All Out wants the UK government to follow in the footsteps of France which has now launched an investigation into gay ‘cure’ therapy in response to pressure from LGBT rights groups.

‘For more than 30 years a powerful group of religious extremists claimed they were able to cure homosexuality,’ All Out states on the petition which now has more than 50,000 signatures.

‘These extremist anti-gay groups teach that people who feel same-sex attraction should stifle it – they should smother it so deeply that they don’t recognize or love themselves. We have a unique opportunity to give the final blow that will end "gay cures" for good.’

Desert Stream’s ‘healing and training week’ at Wynmondham College, Norfolk, is the latest stop on a tour which visits 10 different countries, including Australia and Lithuania.

The group is an off-shoot of one of the world’s largest ‘ex-gay’ ministries, Exodus International.